Writing thesis is like backpacking around the world. It is an exciting journey that will give you great experience and valuable contacts. You will experience several Aha! -moments But also moments of total confusion and frustration. Here we have gathered some experience that will help you on your journey.

Learn to Manage!
As a student, you are expected to have regular dialogues with the client* and together find a suitable arrangement of the work. You should also discuss the direction and scope with the examiner or mentor. It is important that the client is satisfied with your work, but it is the examiner who assesses and decides whether the thesis is approved.

It's not just about the money!
Writing a thesis is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain valuable experience and contacts - it is this that is the real payment. In some cases, the client also accounts for a small fee, but that is not so common.

What's the point?
With a clear picture of what you want to achieve with the essay it will be easier to understand how each part of the text should assist the purpose of the thesis. To write a coherent text with a logical structure and without redundant information, it helps to have a clear picture of what you want to convey. Therefore, discuss the purpose with both the client and your examiner/mentor After that, formulate the purpose into one or two sentences. With a clear purpose, you can formulate additional issues to ease the continuous work.

Have a plan!
It is good to have a clear idea from the start how you want to structure your report, even though it is likely that the structure will need to be changed during the work. If you are careless, you can easily experience lack of time! Get yourself early !, an idea of how much time you have to reach each milestone. A Gantt chart is a handy form to use as a timetable.

The survival kit!

• Note the references directly. This is no fun task the day before submission.
• Prepare any interviews / questionnaires in advance. Getting answers may take longer than you think.
• You should rather have too much than too little contact with your client. It's much more fun to go on student parties than correcting the misunderstanding!

*The contact person at the company/organization is referred to as “client” in the text